The association between gestation at birth and maternal sensitivity: An individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis

Julia Jaekel¹, Peter J Anderson², Dieter Wolke³, Günter Esser⁴, Gorm Greisen⁵, Alicia Spittle⁶, Jeanie Cheong⁷, Anneloes L van Baar⁸, Marjolein Verhoeven⁸, Noa Gueron-Sela⁹, Naama Atzaba-Poria⁹, Lianne J Woodward¹⁰, Erica Neri¹¹, Francesca Agostini¹¹, Ayten Bilgin¹², Riikka Korja¹³, Elizabeth C Loi¹⁴, Karli Treyvaud¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Unit of Psychology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom; Paediatrics I, Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. Electronic address: Julia.Jaekel@oulu.fi.
² School of Psychology Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Center for Newborn Research, Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, CA, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom; Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
⁴ Akademie für Psychotherapie und Interventionsforschung an der Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
⁵ Neonatology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁶ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Australia.
⁷ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Newborn Research, Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Depts of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health, and Dept of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
¹⁰ School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy.
¹² Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
¹³ Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
¹⁴ Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, USA.
¹⁵ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

PMID: 40043549
DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2025.106227

Free article

Meta-Analysis

The association between gestation at birth and maternal sensitivity: An individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis

Julia Jaekel et al. Early Hum Dev. 2025 Apr.

Free article

. 2025 Apr:203:106227.

doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2025.106227. Epub 2025 Feb 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Unit of Psychology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom; Paediatrics I, Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. Electronic address: Julia.Jaekel@oulu.fi.
² School of Psychology Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Center for Newborn Research, Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, CA, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom; Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
⁴ Akademie für Psychotherapie und Interventionsforschung an der Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
⁵ Neonatology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁶ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Australia.
⁷ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Newborn Research, Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Depts of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health, and Dept of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
¹⁰ School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy.
¹² Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
¹³ Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
¹⁴ Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, USA.
¹⁵ Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

PMID: 40043549
DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2025.106227

Abstract

Background and aim: Studies have documented differences in dyadic sensitivity between mothers of preterm (<37 weeks' gestation) and term born children, but findings are inconsistent and studies often include small and heterogeneous samples. It is not known to what extent variations in maternal sensitivity are associated with preterm birth across the full spectrum of gestational age.

Objective: To perform a systematic review and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis assessing variations in observed dyadic maternal sensitivity according to child gestational age at birth, while adjusting for known confounders correlated with maternal sensitivity.

Method: We harmonised data from 12 birth cohorts from ten countries and carried out one-stage IPD meta-analyses (N = 3951) using mixed effects linear regression. Maternal sensitivity was z-standardised according to the scores of contemporary term-born controls within each respective cohort. All models were adjusted for child sex, age at assessment, neurodevelopmental impairment, small for gestational age birth, and maternal education.

Results: The fixed linear effect of the association between gestation at birth and maternal sensitivity across all 12 cohorts was small but stable (0.02 per week [95 % CI = 0.01, 0.02], p < .001). The binary effects of maternal education (0.32 [0.24, 0.40], p < .001) and child neurodevelopmental impairment (-0.33 [-0.50, -0.17], p < .001) were associated with maternal sensitivity.

Interpretation: Gestational age at birth is positively associated with dyadic maternal sensitivity, however, the size of the effect is small. Over and above gestation, maternal education and child neurodevelopmental impairment appear to affect sensitivity, highlighting the importance of considering these factors in future research and intervention designs.

Keywords: Gestation at birth; Individual participant data (ipd) meta-analysis; Maternal sensitivity; Observed dyadic behaviour; Parenting; Preterm birth; Reciprocal interaction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Publication types

Actions
Actions

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- ClinicalKey
- Elsevier Science

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

The association between gestation at birth and maternal sensitivity: An individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis

Affiliations

The association between gestation at birth and maternal sensitivity: An individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources